The Damned Demon

The spear was cutting through the air so fast Asher didn't even have the time to react or think.

Even before he could blink, the tip of the spear was already about to pierce his heart. He knew Iryna had somehow compromised the castle, so using his master access wasn't an option. He could only think of transforming into Hellbringer, even if that could mean exposing his only ace up his sleeve.

However, suddenly a gust of wind blew past his face as a gothic beauty stopped the spear with her bare hands right before it could pierce his skin.

Asher literally felt as if he had dodged a bullet and saw Rowena standing in front of him as if to shield him.

The five Bloodburn Guards immediately appeared before him and surrounded his chair as if acting as a shield for him. He realized Rowena must have ordered them to protect him even though their duty was to protect her. This made him realize even more how determined she was to keep him alive.

She then twirled the spear around and struck the ground with it, sending tendrils of blood in every direction, especially toward Iryna's followers, who were caught unawares. These tendrils wrapped around their body and pulled them up into the air as they began to break their bones.

But Iryna manifested blades of blood in the air and cut down these tendrils, making them fall back onto the floor, "You have to get past me first," Iryna said with a cutting gaze.

Ceti was frustrated to see these masked vampires get back on their feet. One of them had already jumped into the air to slash at her head, but Ceti stepped to the side and smashed his jaw with her spiky knuckle glove and then smashed his chest again and again till his heart was a bloody paste.

"Yaarh! Come at me, cowards!" Ceti let out a battle cry as she jumped on the rest and began to pulverize them one after the other.

Asher narrowed his eyes upon seeing Ceti fight like a mad woman yet with brute strength that surely wasn't weak in any way. She was even purposefully letting herself get attacked and injured, even though she could have avoided them easily.

But then he noticed that the more she got attacked, the stronger her attacks were becoming. Was this some kind of werewolf rage thing? Still, he had never seen this kind of thing before since she clearly wasn't expending that much mana.

The entire hall was in chaos as Iryna's followers were randomly cutting down the nobles. Asher could see that each of these followers was no joke. They were surely high-ranked demons who were loyal to Iryna.

Most of the nobles in this hall seemed to have no chance or were struggling quite a lot against Iryna's followers. It was no surprise since all these followers were of House Drake, allowing them to make their blood hot as flames which would definitely be a nightmare to any other vampire.

But right then he saw the members of House Thorne and House Valentine getting into action, trying to kill Iryna's people before they could do any further damage.

And the moment they joined in, the followers of Iryna seemed to get suppressed for the first time.

Asher raised his brows when he saw Lord Thorin clutch the throat of one of the followers, and the next moment all life was drained out of him till his eyes began to glow dark blue, turning him into a zombie just like that!

And this zombie began to attack his own people, no longer Iryna's follower but an undead slave of Thorin.

As for Sabina, she was smiling charmingly as she summoned three undead Hunters who had their eyes glowing with an eerie dark blue light.

Asher saw how their organs were sticking out from their bodies while some even had their eyeballs dangling out of their sockets. And based on how ghastly they looked, especially their rotting flesh and various cuts on them, he could only imagine what Sabina did to them before killing them.

However, these three still had armor and weapons on them and lunged towards Iryna's men with movements and speed that were no weaker than veteran Hunters.

Those three cut down one of Iryna's men before he could even raise his blade.

But he saw Jarius Throne cowering behind his mother and scoffed. He looked like he was about to pee any second. It seemed like Esther Thorne couldn't even join the fight because of him.

As for Edmund Thorne, he walked past a man getting attacked by Iryna's followers. He screamed at Edmund for help, but Edmund didn't even turn around as if he didn't hear or see him and went ahead to grab a noblewoman who was hiding behind a pillar. She was not under attack but was thrilled to see the handsome and powerful young lord personally escort her to a safe corner.

On the other side, Lord Vernon  was gracefully walking towards the followers despite the fact that two of them were about to cut him down with their scorching blood weapons.

But just as they reached near them, their eyes flickered, and the next moment they stabbed each other's hearts before dropping dead to the ground.

He didn't even raise a finger and still had a subtle smile on his face as he continued walking.

And as if Asher hadn't seen enough, he saw Silvia dancing with a cheery smile. But what made him blink his eyes was the two of Iryna's followers were dancing along with her as if they were enjoying it too.

Right as he was about to wonder what this crazy woman was doing with them, he looked closely and saw Silvia throwing a round, pretty red ball at them before taking two steps back. The next moment flames burst out as they engulfed the two followers, but they still kept on dancing as if they didn't even know they were getting burned alive.

"Tehehe! This is so fun!" Silvia giggled as she excitedly clapped her hands while watching the two flaming figures dancing to their death.

Even if these two had the Bloodburn Bloodline, that didn't mean they were immune to magic flames. It only meant that they were resistant to it compared to other vampires and this fact only made it worse since these flames were slowly burning off their flesh due to their resistance.

It was not an ordinary sight people could stomach, though Asher wasn't surprised by her actions after his interaction with her.

The son and mother duo, Jarius and Naida Valentine seemed as if they were taking a stroll by holding hands and confusing Iryna's men who tried to attack them. It seemed too easy for them to cut these men down together.

Asher felt that they were even more dangerous upon seeing them in action.

As for Seron, he was facing off against four of Iryna's men, who seemed stronger than the others. However, these four were getting closer to death as each second passed as Seron was killing them from the inside by boiling their blood beyond their limits.

Rebecca had a condescending smile on her face as she was still sitting on her chair and sent her hairpin flying around with the mere movement of her finger. Once her hairpin knife pierced one of Iryna's followers, their bodies would go limp as their eyes turned lifeless. But it wasn't the end for them as their eyes would uncontrollably shake before their eyes turned a creepy dark blue. And the next moment, they would attack their own men as per the orders of Rebecca, their master.

Asher saw Silvan Drake rushing to help Ceti, cutting down anyone who was trying to attack Ceti.

"Ceti, I got your back!" Silvan said as he jumped right next to her.

"You should go and help the queen. I got this!" Ceti was worried since, other than being powerful, Iryna wasn't a woman who would mindlessly carry out an attack no matter how angry or resentful she was. If she came here like this, then she definitely wasn't planning to leave without causing enough damage.

"Don't worry about her. Oberon will support her. I can't just leave you alone like this," Silvan said as he plunged his sword into one of Iryna's men.

Rowena and Iryna were exchanging attacks when Oberon came in and sent an attack toward Iryna along with Rowena's, pushing her a step back.

"That's enough, Aunt Iryna. This is a fool's errand. My queen punished your family for their treason and anybody who supported it. You were lucky to escape at that time but you should have stayed hidden. Now there is no hope for you. Did you come here wishing to die? There is no way you could do anything when all of us are here," Oberon asked as he stood in front of Rowena with a smirk and his chin raised high.

Iryna coldly smiled as she said, "Little Oberon, it's a pity you have yet to become a man. It must have been pathetic to watch as what was supposed to be yours was snatched right before you," She finished with a brief glance at the crippled consort.

Oberon's expression turned ugly as he knew what she exactly meant. But because he got distracted momentarily, it was too late when he saw a lava of blood rising from the ground and smashing against him, sending him flying towards the back.

"Now, there will be nothing but ash," Iryna said as a giant black grimoire suddenly manifested in her hands. And as she moved her hands through the air as, a huge crimson mana circle suddenly began to light up around her.

Rowena's eyes shook as she realized what Iryna was doing and was about to stop her when dozens of Iryna's followers suddenly left whatever they were doing and charged at Rowena like a frenzied mob.

Asher knew Rowena could handle this mob but the reason he was almost on his feet was that he saw a giant burst of flames coming out of the crimson circle around Iryna that made his eyes go wide.

*ROARRRR!!!*